Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a rare visit to the southern province of Kandahar to visit victims of a US-led coalition bombing raid. The US military has said it may have killed up to 80 Taleban fighters during the assault on a village in Kandahar. But local officials said 16 civilians were also killed in Monday's attack and women and children injured. The US military has defended its action saying it did not know that civilians were present. It also blamed the Taleban for using the civilians as human shields. President Karzai addressed a gathering of tribal elders in Kandahar saying he had come to visit children and women wounded in the coalition strike. "I swear to God I'll bring security to you," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Rail service was slowly being restored Thursday morning along the New York to Washington corridor after a major power outage stranded thousands of rush-hour commuters, stopping trains inside tunnels and forcing many passengers to get out and walk to the nearest station. Initially, five trains were stuck in tunnels — three NJ Transit trains, an Amtrak train in the Baltimore tunnel and another in the Hudson River tunnel, according to Cliff Black, a spokesman for Amtrak. Power was restored shortly before 10:30 a.m. from New York's Penn Station through Trenton, N.J. at the northern end of the corridor, as well as from Washington to Perryville, Md., about 40 miles north of Baltimore, said David Hughes, Amtrak's acting president. Trains were being slowly powered up every five minutes or so, but had to proceed slowly on reduced power, he said. ...http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2006-05-25-amtrak-outage_x.htm?csp=34

Two men convicted of robbing seniors each were sentenced to 60 years in prison with no possibility of parole. Prosecutors said Jeremy Jester, 18, and Jamin Mitchell, 19, visited businesses frequented by seniors and victimized people who appeared frail. "This kind of crime, it's premeditated. It's cold-blooded," Judge Robert Ruehlman said in announcing the sentences Wednesday. One victim said he was held at knifepoint while his attackers demanded money and threatened to kill him. Mitchell and Jester each pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary charges in January. Fourteen other charges were dismissed. Both men apologized to their victims in court. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2003341

Congress has passed legislation to stop demonstrators from picketing military funerals at federal cemeteries. "It is a sad but necessary measure to protect what should be recognised...as a solemn, private and deeply sacred occasion," Senator Bill Frist said. The measure follows a series of protests by a Kansas church group at military burials around the country. The group believes the casualties in Iraq are a sign of God's anger at US tolerance of homosexuality. President Bush is now expected to sign the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, which would bar protests at national cemeteries for one hour before and after a funeral. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5015690.stm

Australian commandos have landed in East Timor in an effort to quell three days of increasing violence. About 150 troops secured the airport in the capital, Dili, amid reports of mounting casualties in the city. A further 1,300 Australians, and troops from Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal are also heading to East Timor. Reports say a number of people have died and many have been injured in Dili, where disgruntled ex-soldiers are fighting government troops. Australia's ABC radio reported that a fleet of ambulances were requested after a battle outside Dili's main police station. A UN official in the city described "constant gunfire" around the organisation's compound, and said the army was "on the rampage". ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5014830.stm

Worried that the lights could go out, EU chiefs will press President Vladimir Putin today to agree new rules on future Russian oil and gas supplies, pricing and investment. But Moscow is in no mood to haggle. It has already rejected a proposed international energy charter. And European governments lack a united front. As a result, the meeting, in Sochi on the Black Sea, is unlikely to bring relief to benighted European consumers and businesses. Energy-fuelled tensions between Russia and the west may instead come to a head at the G8 summit in St Petersburg on July 15. Traditionally a staid event, this is shaping up as the diplomatic equivalent of the shootout at the OK Corral - or a wildcatter's oil well brawl. After the US vice-president Dick Cheney's recent anti-Moscow broadside, there is loose talk of a new cold war. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1782443,00.html